No books by any Black authors were part of the curriculum, so for much of my 20s I only read Black female writers. At school I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice, but looking back I felt I was force-fed what “good” literature was. We must never forget the global stories of women across generations their hardship and tenacity.Īnything by Jane Austen. I found it on a guesthouse bookshelf on holiday in Tanzania. Scary, determined, a craving for power at any cost: hardcore doesn’t do her justice. I never really understood Shakespeare at school – only later in life did I come to appreciate the kick-ass Lady Macbeth. All these men left school before the age of 16, but that in no way stopped them from understanding how to tell a cracking story. Not a book but, as a youngster, listening to my dad and his friends telling laugh-out-loud stories as they slammed down dominoes on a Friday evening – the voices they used to bring the characters alive.

The book that made me want to be a writer I never really understood Shakespeare at school – only later in life did I come to appreciate the kick-ass Lady Macbeth She made me realise that someone with an accent like mine has a right to be heard just like anyone else in our society. The first writer I knew who had the brass to write stories about the struggles and experiences of women who lived on council estates. But, ultimately, a young, poor Black woman can be triumphant. I cried, I laughed, I shook my fist at the unfairness of life. Please note this copy has some light creases on the spine and some light scuffs on the edges of the covers.Alice Walker’s The Color Purple.

The Poldark series is the masterwork of Winston Graham's life work, evoking the period and people like only he can and creating a work of rich and poor, loss and love, that you will not soon forget.

And into this setting, Jeremy Poldark, Ross and Demelza's first son, is born. But there are enemies in plenty who would be happy to see Ross convicted, not the least of which is George Warleggan, the powerful banker whose personal rivalry with Ross grows ever more intense and threatens to destroy the Poldarks. Ross is brought to trial for his involvement, and despite their stormy marriage, Demelza tries to rally support for her husband, to save him and their family. Reeling from the tragic death of a loved one, Captain Poldark vents his grief by inciting impoverished locals to salvage the contents of a ship run aground in a storm-an act for which British law proscribes death by hanging. Ross Poldark faces the darkest hour of his life in this third novel of the Poldark series.

The poldark book series